1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of weaponry and, more particularly, to a caseless projectile and an associated launching system used for both non-lethal and lethal applications.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In general, most firearms or weapons have employed bullets, which are typically fired through a relatively heavy barrel. Usually a cartridge including a bullet, a casing and smokeless propellant located in the casing is employed. Conventional hand carried weapons are typically fired by pulling a trigger which allows a movable firing pin to impact the aft end of the bullet cartridge to initiate a primer and ignite the smokeless propellant located in the bullet cartridge such that the bullet is fired out the barrel. When the firearm is fired, the bullet will have an initial high acceleration caused by high temperature and pressure of gases that propel the bullet through the barrel. Typically, the high temperature and high pressure gases are formed by the ignition of the smokeless propellant and since the deflagration of the propellant releases large amounts of energy and heat, the weapon has to be made of a very heavy durable material, usually metal. The disadvantage of such construction is that the barrel is extremely heavy and is not really suitable for light-weight non-lethal applications.
In order to provide non-lethal systems, some weapons have been designed to fire multiple frangible projectiles, often launched using air from compressed air bottles. Typically, extra air bottles and a compressor to refill empty bottles are required for sustained operations and the whole arrangement tends to be relatively heavy, while requiring a high logistic burden. Other non-lethal systems typically use a blunt, relatively large projectile that is cumbersome to transport and fire. In certain cases, non-lethal projectiles are designed to be used with launchers built for lethal ammunition. For instance, manually operated shotguns can be used to fire non-lethal ballistics such as beanbags and rubber projectiles, and non-lethal grenades from a muzzle-mounted launcher. However, such arrangements typically lack accuracy and cannot be switched to lethal fire in an efficient manner.
The most advanced prior art blunt impact projectiles are considered to be propelled either by standard style gun propellants or compressed gas. Compressed gas guns utilize a cylinder of compressed air or a gas such as carbon dioxide to propel the projectile and operate the action of the launcher so that multiple rapid follow-up shots can be achieved. Compressed gas launchers can have an advantage of rapid semi-automatic fire at the expense of a large amount of logistics associated with the transport and filling of compressed air tanks needed to operate the launcher. Certainly, solid propellant driven non-lethal weapons have an advantage of decreased logistical burdens. However, they are often not capable of the same fire rate as the compressed air guns because the weapon has to be operated manually to reload for successive shots. In general, solid propellant driven non-lethal ammunition lacks the energy to reliably operate an automatic or semi-automatic reloading mechanism of a weapon designed to fire high-pressure ammunition. This deficiency can be overcome, at least to some extent, by the use of telescoping casings, if the action is of a straight blow back design, as has been done for certain grenade launchers. However, these known launchers employ projectiles which are both expensive and large, thereby requiring a large volume for ammunition storage and greatly reducing the readiness of the launcher for lethal applications.
In general, the use of non-lethal ammunition in weapons that are otherwise used to fire lethal ammunition compromises the safety of the user by decreasing the readiness to respond with lethal force when necessary. Therefore, as can be seen from the above discussion, there is considered to be a need in the art for a non-lethal weapon that is compact and can achieve a high rate of fire without large logistical burdens, such as those associated with compressed gas guns which have gas bottles that need to be supplied and/or filled. In addition, there is a need for a weapon that is mechanically simpler, smaller and lighter than prior art compressed air or gas non-lethal weapons. Furthermore, there is a need in the art for a launcher which is small enough and light enough to mount under or to the side of the barrel of a known lethal weapon, such as an M16 rifle, without degrading the readiness or lethal performance of the rifle. Finally, there is a need in the art to provide ammunition in the form of projectiles which can be in either non-lethal or lethal form yet still be fired from the same launcher.